It was the 1960s, when rock 'n' roll was king. And the genre's royalty routinely stopped in Monticello to play the Indiana Beach Ballroom. The Who, Alice Cooper, The Turtles, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Sonny & Cher, The Beach Boys and dozens of other acts -- many of which are enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- treated tourists and area music fans to live music during the summer.

Those who had front-row seats are left with unforgettable memories. But with the passage of time, physical evidence has faded away. Memorabilia has been tossed into the trash or packed away in long-ignored boxes in attics.

Indiana Beach today has no documentary evidence of Simon & Garfunkel's 1966 gig or The Everly Brothers' 1964 stop. Even the chunk of the ballroom ceiling that The Who's Pete Townshend knocked out with his guitar in 1968 has been patched.

People who vividly remember Brenda Lee making thousands go wild in 1961 -- the year she had four top-10 singles -- have little hard evidence of that night. The same is true for hundreds of other performances at the ballroom, including legendary big bands who drew crowds in the 1940s.

They're all just a collection of memories now.

A who's who of bands

Fred Feigel of Lafayette was among about 100 people who caught a Wednesday performance in 1968 of Big Brother & the Holding Company, which featured Janis Joplin.

"During the break, Janis was in the midway around the games and the rides and nobody was hassling her. She was just having a good old time," he recalled. "Nobody was asking for autographs or screaming or hollering. Half the people didn't even know who she was."

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Gary Jeffries helped set up stage equipment at some of the huge Indiana Beach concerts and as a teenager got to perform at some of the shows as an opening act. Jeffries, still a musician and living in Dayton, Ohio, said the timing of the ballroom bookings was excellent.

"I'm not sure if I can name one concert that stood out more than others, because to me they were all totally amazing," Jeffries said. "Maybe Janis Joplin when her hit single 'Piece of My Heart' was out, or could it have been The Who when their hit 'I Can See For Miles' was out? Or was it The Yardbirds when their hit 'For Your Love' was out? Can I go on? The Turtles' 'So Happy Together,' Lovin' Spoonful's 'Summer In The City.' ... "

A concert at Indiana Beach in the 1960s was like going to the fair with the smell of grilling burgers coming in from the midway, said Peggy McCain, a native of San Pierre (population 156) now living in South Haven, Mich.

"It had that carnival atmosphere," the Starke County native remembered. "It was like going to a big party."

Live music was part of McCain's daily Indiana Beach experience.

"We would go early in the morning. My three girlfriends would get in the car and we'd just go. I'd have to be back at work at noon so we'd come back smelling like suntan oil. Work for eight hours and then we'd go back."

McCain fondly recalls the 1967 Jefferson Airplane concert, especially the performance by a young Grace Slick.

"I remember thinking, 'she has got to be one of the most amazing people I would ever see sing.' The sound was what you would expect in that place, not the quality we have today, but at 17, it was the best we ever heard," McCain said.

"It was 1967. Those were the days. It was a lot of fun."

That Jefferson Airplane concert was one of McCain's last experiences at Indiana Beach.

Soon after, she went to college, moved and got married. McCain hasn't returned since.

The artifacts

To be sure, there are few places where the public can read about the concerts Feigel, Jeffries, McCain and others enjoyed.

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The White County Historical Museum is one such place.

Newsletters simply titled "Indiana Beach Preview" and "Happenings" promote "Dance-In Experiences" and, in the late '60s, "A Psychedelic Experience & Musical Explosion Every Tues." played by bands that would become superstars or bands already enjoying success. A 1968 publication offers a picture of Mothers of Invention with a young Frank Zappa, his Fu Manchu mustache and soul patch combo drawing the eye. Page 3 promises "Blue Cheer will sock their 'Summertime Blues' to you Friday, June 12."

In these 1960s newsletters, music trends and styles change before the reader's eyes.

Early '60s vocal groups make way for Beach Boy look-alikes -- as well as the actual Beach Boys -- before the mods and garage bands of the mid-'60s. Psychedelic and hard rockers sporting mutton chops and long hair rounded out the decade.

But concert photographs, posters and other documentation have essentially vanished. Even the former owners of Indiana Beach -- the Spackman family -- do not know where such memorabilia may be located.

Rick Knapp is among the few who have preserved historic images from this time period.

During the 60s, his weekly trips to the ballroom included concerts by The Cryan' Shames ("Sugar and Spice"), The Byrds ("Turn! Turn! Turn!") and The Buckinghams ("Kind of a Drag"). A Frankfort native, Knapp brought his camera to The Yardbirds' show on Aug. 12, 1966.

Knapp was right in front of the stage as the musicians seem to tower over him. He snapped color shots of a young Jimmy Page on bass and Jeff Beck on guitar. Eric Clapton had left the band in 1965.

The snapshots appeared in an issue of England's Classic Rock magazine and still appear on www.ledzeppelin.com. Page looks a bit out of place playing a four-string bass instead of the six-string guitar, which he later achieved fame with in Led Zeppelin.

Knapp still has The Who's 1968 concert etched in his mind. He can still see John Entwistle's fingers flying up and down a Precision bass.

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"He was the finest bass player I ever saw live," said Knapp, who later bought a 1963 model of the same bass.

The 1968 Indiana Beach newsletter promoted tickets for The Who for $3.25.

Now living in Florida and playing bass for the blues rock act the Walter Trout Band, Knapp laughs at that 1968 Who ticket price.

"You know what? I don't want my money back."

Indeed, it was a bargain even in today's dollars. A $3.25 ticket in 1968 translates to $21.27 today, according to Calculator.net.

According to Michael Morrison, a rock 'n' roll historian and associate professor of history at Purdue University, it was not uncommon for acts such as The Who to play venues such as Indiana Beach in the Midwest. The Rolling Stones cut their teeth in 1964 playing Midwestern state fairs and other nontraditional venues.

"There's documentary footage of them (the Stones) with nobody there and they weren't well received," Morrison said.

The Who's 1968 gig at Indiana Beach occurred before the band's Woodstock performance, which propelled the band to a higher level of stardom, Morrison noted. The band was relatively unknown in the Midwest before the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.

If these walls could talk

Today, the ballroom sits quietly behind the Indiana Beach arcade.

Few people enter the ballroom or even notice it. There's a mish-mash of outdated furniture as well as a locked-up DJ booth. The cement floor looks as if it could have withstood thousands of feet every summer dancing to the sounds of rock 'n' roll history's elite.

The ballroom can still be reserved for events, but most live bands now play in the Rooftop Lounge, a bar within Indiana Beach that is just a short walk from the ballroom.

In the last decade, performers such as Henry Lee Summer and Marshall Tucker have rocked Indiana Beach. But their concerts occurred many years after the musicians' peaks.

Erin Anderson, Indiana Beach food service manager, said that a newer stage was constructed after the days of the Beach Boys' sweet harmonies filling the summer air along Lake Shafer. The old stage stood on the north side of the ballroom allowing for a large space for standing room only crowds. The walls opened up to allow people from outside as well as those docked on their boats to see and hear The Byrds rock out in 1965.

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Standing in the ballroom, Anderson looked around and could picture Iron Butterfly laying down its hard rock grooves in 1968. She said these concerts are popular topics of conversation among staff and local customers.

"Personally, I would have loved to have been at these shows," said Anderson, 22. "My parents definitely raised me on that kind of music and I've gone to see the Stones and Aerosmith. It's kind of fun to imagine some of these timeless acts in here. I wish we could still utilize this space like that."

The downfall of smaller venues

Indiana Beach was owned by the Spackman family from 1925 to 2008. The amusement park was sold to Morgan RV Resorts in 2008, which has run the park ever since.

During the 1960s, longtime owner Tom Spackman hired booking agents to bring in top acts. The Monticello stop was usually sandwiched by gigs in Chicago and Indianapolis. A July 17, 1970, concert by the band Chicago was one of the last big shows in the ballroom.

Many factors contributed to touring acts trailing off as the '70s dawned.

Morrison said it was a combination of arenas opening up to rock concerts and the perpetuation of bands such as Cream, The Who and the Rolling Stones that helped put Indiana Beach and other small venues out of the running for big rock tours. The arena rock era led to bands being more theatrical -- Kiss, for example.

Venues such as Indiana Beach simply could no longer afford such shows nor did it have the room to house them.

Ruth Davis, one of Spackman's three daughters, remembered more concert venues popping up in the 1970s, allowing touring bands to play in front of larger crowds. Additionally, bands started to charge more than what Indiana Beach could guarantee. Bands began traveling with larger, union crews that all needed to get paid as well.

"We couldn't get the numbers to break even. There were so many demands and expenses," Davis said.

One of the requirements that started to handcuff Indiana Beach in the 1970s was the bands' need for better sound equipment, Davis explained. The ballroom's sound system did not meet some touring bands' standards.

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No room on the dance floor

Once the larger venues took over, the smaller ones were left with fond memories.

"It was pretty interesting. A lot of times, the dance floor was packed with people standing and listening. You could hardly move," said Tom Spackman Jr., the oldest of the five Spackman children.

Each Spackman child seemed to remember different eras better. Tom Jr. cited the 1958 Kingston Trio appearance as one of his favorites.

Middle sister Ruth Davis preferred the early 1960s acts such as Fabian, Ricky Nelson, Peter, Paul and Mary as well as The Beach Boys, the biggest draw of that era for the ballroom.

"We were very close to 5,000 that night," she said. "This was pre-concert arenas. It was just a dance floor. Dad made everyone sit down so everyone could see them on-stage."

In the 1960s, Indiana Beach would cram as many people as they could into the ballroom. Most shows drew thousands, but some bands in their up-and-coming years might have only drawn 100 or so fans.

Cathy Juntgen, the youngest of the Spackman children, cited Iron Butterfly (1968) and The Turtles (1966) as two of her favorite performances.

"The Turtles drove my husband's motorcycle. They wanted to take a ride and off they went," Juntgen said.

Juntgen can't image the 21st century versions of The Who, Yardbirds and Jefferson Airplane playing Indiana Beach today.

"It was a total different atmosphere than what it is today," she sighed. "Gosh, those were the good times. They are gone now."
Were you there? Do you have memorabilia from a 1960s-era concert at Indiana Beach?
Let us know at www.jconline.com/indianabeach